Caleb Bond: Labor cannot talk too loudly about Ms Fierravanti-Wells’s comments lest they look like the total hypocrites they are

Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells gave a gift to the left and people like Grace Tame who just want to tear Morrison down, writes Caleb Bond.

Fresh from having precisely zero interest in the alleged bullying of late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, the Left is now excited by claims that Prime Minister Scott Morrison is a bully.

The staggering Tuesday night speech from NSW Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells could not have made its point any clearer – she does not like Mr Morrison and nor should anyone else.

It was a gift to those who want to tear him down, even if accepting the gift involved a spot of hyperbole and hypocrisy.

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, for instance, tweeted of the speech: “If our nation’s news media industry was balanced, uncorrupted and not collusive, what happened last night would be on the front page of every newspaper in the country.”

There was barely a peep out of Ms Tame about Ms Kitching. But now she expects every copy of every newspaper in the country to be pulped to accommodate a new front-page story that happened well after print deadlines had passed – on budget day, one of the busiest days in the news business, no less.

It was near the top of every news website on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. To suggest it did not receive wide coverage, and that Australian news outlets are corrupt and “collusive” (with whom is not clear), is a lie.

Anthony Albanese fires back at Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time. Picture: Gary Ramage

Unfortunately, Ms Tame’s hatred of Mr Morrison has begun overshadowing her admirable work for victims of sexual abuse.

But it has presented an unfortunate situation for the ALP because they cannot talk too loudly about Ms Fierravanti-Wells’s comments lest they look like the total hypocrites they are.

Ordinarily, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese could have had a field day with claims the PM is a bully.

His comments this week, though, were much more measured.

“Those people who know Scott Morrison well attest to the flaws in his character,” Mr Albanese said on Wednesday.

“Last night it’s extraordinary that a sitting, serving senator, who’s been a former minister, who has served alongside in the ministry with Scott Morrison, says that he is unfit to be Prime Minister,” he said.

While unable to make overt comments about Mr Morrison being an alleged bully, Mr Albanese is keen to use this to distract from very real and sinister allegations of bullying within his own party.

Coming out all guns blazing would have the opposite effect. But quiet comments could keep the issue bubbling along.

Ms Fierravanti-Wells has dropped a bomb that will help take the heat off the treatment of Ms Kitching as well as Labor’s own factional issues, including two wealthy candidates being parachuted into the western suburbs of Sydney – one of them being repeated political failure Kristina Keneally.

It must not be allowed to happen.

The leader of the Opposition in the Senate Penny Wong pays tribute to the late Senator Kimberley Kitching during a special Senate session. Picture: Lukas Coch

Roughly 36 hours earlier, in the same Senate chamber, Penny Wong moved a condolence motion for Ms Kitching.

Ms Wong’s treatment of Ms Kitching has come to light since her death, including a reprehensible comment that she would not understand the issue of climate change because she did not have children.

She was a member of the “mean girls”, as Ms Kitching termed them.

But as leader of the opposition in the Senate, Ms Wong was the first to pay tribute – disgracefully referencing the criticism she has received since Ms Kitching died on the side of a Melbourne road, aged 52, of a suspected heart attack following sustained pressure within her own party.

“I understand that grief and loss can be so profound that it can provoke anger and blame,” Ms Wong said.

“I’ve made my views very clear outside this place about some of that misplaced anger and blame. I will not return anger with anger or blame with blame.”

Gee, how charitable.

She effectively had a go at Ms Kitching’s friends and family who have raised concerns that behaviour from some within the ALP, including Ms Wong, contributed to her death and then claimed to take the high road by not addressing those claims.

It was more of what we have heard from people within the ALP over the past few weeks – that it is wrong to even discuss the treatment of Ms Kitching by her colleagues because it is somehow disrespectful to her memory.

In fact, it would be disrespectful not to explore the claims.

Two weeks ago deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said: “Right now we want to honour Kimberley Kitching, who she was, what she achieved, the warm and wonderful person that she was and that’s what I’m focused on.”

Concetta Anna Fierravanti-Wells let rip on Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Gary Ramage

Ms Kitching confided in Mr Marles about how she was being treated but he has remained tight lipped about what he knew or how he responded.

Her close friend and union boss Diana Asmar, however, has damningly compared Mr Marles to Sergeant Shultz of Hogan’s Heroes: he knows nothing.

“Kimberley tried to resolve the issue a number of ways,” Ms Asmar wrote in the Herald Sun.

“People in authority, no less than the deputy leader of the party – the head of her faction – neither believed her as Marles said he would, nor thought her courageous as Marles said he would, nor acted as Marles said he would.”

Mr Albanese has repeatedly refused to hold an inquiry into the treatment of Ms Kitching. It is a request that has not come from nefarious sources but from her family and friends who are deeply concerned that the treatment of Ms Kitching by people within the ALP contributed to her death.

The claims against the PM deserve to be aired and investigated. But so do those related to Ms Kitching.

This could not have come at a better time for Mr Albanese. Ms Kitching’s loved ones deserve to know the truth – and this should not be allowed to get in the way.